Nick Backstrom has missed 22 games since absorbing Rene Bourque‘s elbow to his head on January 3rd. He has not skated in practice, and there is no timetable for his return. The Capitals have gone 8-11-3 without Nick Backstrom and are no longer among the east’s top 8. We’ve talked about Bourque endlessly and we even made a Punch-out style video about him, but hell no we’re not over this yet.

The Capitals return home on Friday after a floundering road trip. There’s no reason to believe that any recent trends will magically reverse, so we’re encouraging this sideshow. And that’s why we’re debuting our new campaign for Rene Bourque: PUNCH THIS FACE.

Ehow.com offers indispensable advice on throwing a punch, including when to shout “yeehaw” or “bam”, how to exclude parents and bosses from your list of potential targets, and to always conclude the punching process by running away. Good tips if not immediately transferable to hockey.

Capitals Red Line contextualized fighting on an icy surface. The lower friction coefficient, we are told, makes even awesome-looking punches a bit less potent. Keep this in mind, whatever pugilistic Caps guy steps up, and keep your blades perpendicular to the punch vector.

The rest falls on us, the fans.

During Friday’s game, all Verizon Center attendees will boo loudly when Bourque touches the puck. He’ll be the dude in the white jersey, sporting number 27. If Bourque gets hit or goes to the box, it is required of you to applaud until you joy-puke.

And finally, Ian and Rachel have created these printable masks and accompanying posters for you.